That is what I am trying to determine. Is it random or is everyone that has purchased a boat since 2006 is going to be audited. Doesn't seem cost effective to audit everyone or send a random audit to someone that is clean.

could be they were auditing themselves and lost the paperwork. As an owner i would probably not keep around information like that for 5 years. As long as I had my title thats all I needed. You are right to send to everybody doesnt seem right. In just about every audit in the world they never conduct a 100% it usually random. Again random or your buddy tried scamming the system. Maybe he was legit but was a wise guy and said he paid 500 bucks for a 2005 boat. Thats why when I buy things used I always have the seller agree to a much lower price on paper, and some leave blank. I have always put down a number as low as it was was still justified in some sense.

If this audit is like a federal audit, I thought they could not go back past the current year taxes paid, unless there were discrepancies found. Anyone know anything different?

Sounds like the kinda BS they do in Communist wealth staes like Virginia!!! When I lived there you had to pay a yearly "tax" on your cars, trucks, boats etc if I remember right!!

My guess is IL auditor does not believe the price of the boat he submitted in the paperwork. If the figure is below what they think is the value at time of purchase they audit and want documents showing real value. They have gotten a lot more aggressive chasing tax dollars. If they think you didn't pay enough for the boat and taxes the ball is in you court to prove them wrong. You can take a hard nose approach like someone mentioned but I know they will not go away.

If you think you can stall them the surprise will be on you, if the decision is determined you didn't pay enough tax you pay interest from date of purchase. Stalling only benefits them - more tax/interest.

Rick

You hit the nail on the head with that one....the county that I live in wanted over 5 grand a year in tax for my boat that I only keep here 4 months out of the year (law only applies to vesssels that are docked or stored over 6 months).....it cost me over a grand to hire an attorney to keep me from paying a tax I didn't owe :angry-smiley-055:

well this will b the second time i try and post to this thread my original didnt post sorry if it ends up showing twice, and sorry this is long and im venting, so look at it as this is for my health and blood pressure...lol... I was audited in 2009 for a vessel i purchased in 2007. i have spent more time fighting the state on it than i care to imagine, and my wife and i are still fighting them to this day on it. i was also auddited in the same year for a vessel and vessel trailer that i had purchased in 2004. these stories are long and im a long winded person so bear with me here, figured i might vent and divulage my trouble and what ive done, hoping to rectifiy it, but have had no sucusses. So all have been warned twice,lol. The 2004 audit was for a trailler that came with my vessel. At the time i regisetered my boat and trailer and PAID my sales tax, you could deduct the cost of your trailer from the cost of the vessel thus lowering what you were paying in sales tax. i called them to ask why they were auditing me and why i owed an additional $1000 dollars. il dept of rev said they called a "pay day loans company " and requeseted the cost of what a trailler for this vessel might cost. They got a number $600 lower than what i put on the paper work, so by the time you add intrest and fines it came to $1000aprox. well i stated did you inform them this was a custom painted to match, triple axel trailer w electric brakes, prop boxes and other gear boxes that were custom built into trailer? they said no. well I said this is b.s. so it began, and i drug it out feeling like i didnt get a fair shake. well two years go by and i go through the rigamoaroll everytime i get paper from them saying i owe money, i call and say NO, you are wrong, i dont, well with the state ,or any state i would figure for that matter,that doesnt work.lol... well after a few more mo. go by and im tired of messing with them on the issue, the state of il decides to have a period of amnisty on all outstanding sales tax issues, so you dont have to pay fines or intrest you just have to pay original amount, well being it is a trivial amount i decide to pay them (via what ever you call when some one has to sign and you get a receipt for it, that has recipiants signature) even though the matter to me is not trivial at all. well life went on some more so when intrest rates drop i went to refi my home and low an behold i have a lien on my house from them. they say that its never been paid even though i wrote them a check and they signed for it, i still have recepit, but they never cashed it/lost it, and now the intrest is gone up even more. ( And yes i know i should have made sure they cashed it but i do alot of work for the state and it can take awhile for them to get around to do anything so it got pushed back and forgot about assuming it was over) still trying to clear up the issue i dont feel that i should have to pay full amount when they lost the check. Well back to year 2006/7 i sold that boat and trailer and was now looking at bigger boats, with bigger price tags and sales tax is signi***nltly more. so i hear through the boating circle im in that there is an exemption in the sales tax law if you read it and fall in to the appropriate catagories. well im older and not as naive as i might have been in 2004 so i look into this exemption and call the state of il. dept. rev. and start asking about this sales tax loop hole/ exemption before i purchase the vessal, and low and low and behold if you meet the criteria you dont owe it. the criteria being if you read "Department of Revenu Regulations Title 86 Part 163 Section 153.115 nontaxable transactions. the vessel i purchased meets the numbering provisions / regestration ie uscg. and i wont be using the boat more than 30 days in a clender year, in the state of illinois. i got the names of the people who answered the phone, and there supervisors names who they conversed with and the number with extinsions and dates when i called and how best to fill out an RUT75 a sales tax form for il. if when and if do purchase a new vessel. Well i decide to purchase a new boat summer 2007 fill out a RUT75 sales tax form just as i was instructed with even the law highlighted and attached with names and dates. Well in 2009 they decide to audit me anyway right before the holiday season and a family vacation to take our two year old to Disney (awesome) so i call and ask why, paraphrasing here, but well none of the stuff i submited with the RUT75 anymore and the names i put on it mean anything, the people i talked to are not tax attorney they are just there for guidence wtf does that mean? i needed guidance, to see (before i purchased mind you) if i was going to b paying sales tax. they said since they havent fully started the audit or made a final desision that if i wanted to resubmit my paper work they would look at it well it tis the season and my boat is in storage in northern wi 500+ mi away and im going to be gone and i asked if i could get it to them after the first of the year and they said that that would be fine. well i let it slip my mind and the second week of january roles around, and guess what???the state didnt let it slip theirs. they sent me an audit complete form with a bill to follow.(yes to all those unforutante to still be reading i should have stayed on top of it) So i call them and explain i was busy the boat is far away and so is all the paper work and i hadnt had the time to travel 500+ miles to get said paper work what should i do they said well get all your paper work together and fill out an ICB-1 informal confrence review board request or fill out an ( dont have my the nubers of paper work for this memorised) for a formal review with a juge. Well the formal and Juge made me sweat so i filled out he paper work for an informal review six mo. later i get a letter telling the date of this review and i can do it by telephone it also said if i had any additonal paperwork for review i could submit it at this time, ie evidence on my behalf. so i got my uscg registration paper work, print out from the computers on my motors showing hrs currently on vessel, the ad that i still had for the vessel with advertised motor hrs the bill of sale with motor hrs, and time stamped photos of current hrs on meters on vessel and my wife and i's time cards i work 50 hrs a week and so does she working weekends somtimes, the reason for all this was to show that i did indeed meet the critera to fall into the nontaxable transaction catagory. You see i only get to use this vessel about every other weekend at most if im lucky, my wife works some weekends as previoulsly stated and we have kids that are really young so finding a sitter and the time is hard. We also only have from memorial day to labor day to run the boat here in central il pleasure boating if your lucky starts mem weekend and ends laborday weekend to cold or wet usually to boat so the math shows that is about only fifteen weekends possible to boat and we only go about ten- twenty miles a day so the hrs put on the boat are very very low, i bought the boat with 199 hrs and to this day it still has right around 300 so at the time i was lucky t have had twenty five - thirty addional hrs on it showing that i didnt go to the lake very often and (some of the hrs my meters had on them were from wi and delaware were we have taken some trips out side illinois but i need a way to prove that and didnt have it) deffinatly didnt use it more than thirty days in a calendar year in the state of illinois. so the date rolls around for the telephone informal confrence review board phone call and my wife and i lay all this out before them they had all the paperwork i sent them showing hrs and what little time my wife an i had and it whent what seemed really well. so another three mo. pass and we get a letter in the mail saying that we didnt provide enough documentation to show that we didnt break the thirty day limit rule... i say b.s. so i start calling attorneys belive it or not there are lots of attoneys, however the number that dont chase ambulances or fight the fed govt. irs are low, it took me a week and i found a nice man in chicago to give me some help over the phone (he didnt even charge me.) but he said that he did specialize in il sales tax but when u figure what i owed and what he charged i would b paying him more than i owed he also informed me of all the years he has been doing it, to never do the informal review board cause only once has he ever seen it not side for the state. He also informed me of who pay for the informal confrance review board and what budget it comes out of and we can probably all guess...Yes ildr...so i called the ildr and got the paper work for a formal review, with the judge by now im so sick of all this i cant wait to see him and meet him...lol...so i fill out and have sent my paper work in twice requesting this formal review, they have both times lost my paper work. and im working on the third but now im so sick of it i could almost just pay it but also at this point it s about princeaple and ill b damned at this point so the saga continues. to the gentlemen asking about lentghs of time itsthe state they are going to do what ever they have to raise revenue. They are borke and continue to mismanage money so i the tax payer must suffer they hope that nine out of ten people will just write them a check and b done with it. sorry for the length/high jack, fell free to pm me if someone has questions or ANSWERS...lol

UPDATE,got mine in the mail today,they are auditing me on a boat i bought from private owner in illinois,i sent them a check for the taxes,now they want proof of payment for that boat and any other boat i have bought since 2006.i called the number on the letter i recieved and i got a voicemail,so i left a message that i have paid the taxes on all boats i have bought and if they want they can check their own records,and to call me if they had any questions.mu guess is they will never call me back but they will waste more time&money asking for money i do not owe.damm i hate the state of illinois.

guess you guys are putting up for blaggo's new digs. bet if you hand delivered the formal request, it would still get lost.

Were all these boats purchased from private parties? If so, you don't pay sales tax, you pay use tax. Use tax is calculated and paid with a RUT-75 use tax return. Sales tax would be due if you purchased the boat from a dealer. IL, like many other states, is just looking for additional revenues.